WWF Monday Night Raw Live!

May 4th 1998

Jim Ross is your announcer.

Ross - Hello everybody and welcome to WWF Monday Night Raw! We're live here for one solid hour of the greatest wrestling action in the world, and we've got a packed show here tonight! Former WWF champion Shawn Michaels is here, and he's gonna lay out a challenge to Jeff Jarrett. Steve Austin's gonna be here as well, and we've also got some great matches lined up! Undefeated Savio Vega goes one on one with Booker T, Chris Chetti will defend the cruiserweight title, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley will face The Rock! But first, here comes the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels!

"Are you ready?"

Michaels showboats his way down the aisle alone.

HBK - How about it ****, Shawn Michaels is in the house! For your viewing pleasure, and because the Heartbreak Kid always gives the people what they want, I thought I'd come out here and tell you about how I'm gonna be the next World Wrestling Federation champion. All you people here know, that Shawn Michaels is the *real* worlds champion, because Jeff Jarrett could never, and *has* never beaten me, straight up, one on one. On April 6th, it took Sycho Sid *and* Jeff Jarrett to take the belt away from me, and at In Your House, once again he needed assistance. You call yourself America's most wanted, you call yourself the man, take me one on one in LA and prove it!

Jarrett - No way Shawn, that ain't happening.

Jarret appears out of the curtains, WWF title around his waist, and a tag belt over each shoulder.

Jarrett - You think you deserve a title shot? You just said right there, I've beaten you twice already in the past month, and this is as close to this belt as you're gonna get. As far as I'm concerned, you've got a hell of a nerve coming out here and *demanding* a title shot. I decide who I wrestle, and when I wrestle, and I'm not wrestling you ever.

Michaels - Listen Jeff, I think that everybody here knows, that Jeff Jarrett, our champion, the figurehead, is nothing but a chickenshit piece of...

Michaels gets cutoff in mid-sentence as Bart Gunn and Bob Holly enter the ring and nail him from behind. The tag champs obviously came through the crowd, and Jarrett now makes his way to the ring to join them. Gunn and Holly hammer away on Shawn as Jarrett talks.

Jarrett - Michaels? This is what happens when you mess with me. You may think you want to get a hold of this title, but I think you'll realise that messing with Jeff Jarrett isn't worth the pain. Listen Shawn, and listen good. You are never, EVER, getting anywhere near me or my title! You're not on my level, I'm so far above your level you can't even see me. I hope you've got this into your goddamn head this time Michaels, get over it.

A little belatedly, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Billy Gunn arrive at ringside and they start hammering on the tag champs as Jarrett calmly steps out through the ropes, belts in hand. Helmsley and Gunn send the Express out over the top of the ring and then tend to the badly beaten Michaels. Jarrett passes The Midnight's the tag titles on the outside before they calmly retreat to the dressing rooms. Michaels eventually gets to his feet in the ring, and Gunn and Helmsley help him out of the ringarea.

Ross - Well my god, what a start to Raw! D-Generation X isn't gonna take this lying down, but I have to admit, Shawn Michaels has been way off lately. Outside interference has played a huge part, but the fact remains that Shawn Michaels hasn't won a conclusive match since Mid-March. We'll have to see how this progresses, but we can now go back to the ring, as Booker T faces Savio Vega!

Booker T vs Savio Vega

Savio takes the advantage in this match at the start, as he lays into Booker with some vicious chops. After working over Booker's arm for a while, with a sucession of armdrags and armtwists, Vega executes a powerslam for a two count. It's all Savio until Booker ducks out of the way of a superkick from Savio, and then takes him down with a scissor kick. Covering him right away, Booker only gets two. A sleeper hold acheives nothing but eating up time, and Savio elbows his way out of the hold pretty easily.

Booker then hits a swinging neckbreaker after whipping Vega into the ropes, before hitting a backbreaker. The momentum shifts back to Vega though, as he works his way out of an abdominal stretch from Booker, and locks one on of his own. Booker gets out of it with an armdrag, but Savio then sends him crashing to the canvas moments later with a hard clothesline. From there it's more slow offence from Vega as the crowd gets restless. Savio dominates until around the eight minute mark, when Booker gets out of a sleeper hold by executing a chinbreaker. As Savio staggers back into the middle of the ring, Booker climbs the ropes for the missile dropkick. Booker lets fly, but Savio easily gets out of the way. Once Booker gets to his feet, Savio knocks him out cold with the Carribean Kick for the win.

Savio Vega defeated Booker T in 8-47 (.75*)

Ross - Impressive victory for Vega and... wait, here comes Dustin Runnels once more.

Runnels enters the ring and takes a microphone from the ring announcer, who had just announced the match result.

Runnels - That's another defeat Booker. I'm gonna let the Rock's comments from last week go, because he isn't worth worrying about. But you? I respect you, and it pains me to see you getting your ass beaten every week, and standing in the background whilst the Rock tells everybody what crap he's cooking. You and I both kno-

Booker - Hold it right now. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of hearing this crap. I'm tired of you calling me up night after night. You come out here, and you disrespect me. You talk about how you respect me, but when you do this, you're disrespecting me. Runnels - I don't want to disrespect you, what I want to do is this. I want to face you in a match in LA...

Booker - Yeah, fine.

Runnels - And if I beat you, then you leave the Nation and you get yourself sorted out.

Booker pauses for a second before brushing past Runnels.

Booker - Leave me alone Dustin.

Booker walks up the aisle and disappears behind the curtains as we go to commercial.

<-commercials->

Ross - Welcome back folks. You saw Booker T having another one to one with Dustin Runnels, we'll have to see where this one goes in the next few weeks. Speaking of the Nation though, Mark Henry's in action next!

Mark Henry vs Mark Starr

A total squash, as Nation member Mark Henry performs a lot better than his comrade Booker T. DDT, spinebuster slam, splash, belly to belly suplex, powerbomb and a powerslam are all executed by Henry before the Big Splash puts Starr out for good.

Mark Henry defeated Mark Starr in 3-27 (-.25*)

Ross - And now we're gonna go backstage where the RoadWarriors are standing by.

Animal - What we want to be focusing our attention on right now is getting the WWF tag team titles. But it seems like every time we try and get any business down, we have to contend with the Headhunters as well.

Hawk - Headhunters? Hunters? Listen boys, we're gonna hunt you down like a protesting baker on bread is illegal day! We've beat you before in England, and we'll beat you again,'cos we got a challenge for ya!?

Animal - That's right, Headhunters. You two pieces of shit against us in the ring tonight on Monday Night Raw, if you've got the guts!

Hawk - Oh what a rush!

Ross - Thank you, Hawk, Animal, the...

"Kee-Rash"

Steve Austin marches to the ring but before he can get there, Sid attacks him from behind. Austin is sent into the guardrail by the bigman, and Sid goes to whip him in again but Austin reverses it. It's a brawl in the aisle between these two as we go to commercials.

<-commercials->

Ross - We're back again folks, and whatever it was Austin had planned when he came out here we'll never know. During the commercial break, security stepped in and seperated the two men, but they ain't gonna be apart for long. These guys just can't keep their hands off each other! But the ring area is clear right now, and our next contest will be for the WWF Cruiserweight title!

(WWF Cruiserweight Champion) Chris Chetti vs Hector Garza

It's Chetti's first defence of the WWF cruiserweight title, and it's gonna be a tough match against Hector Garza. The match gets off to an electric start as Chetti attempts a frankensteiner after springboarding off a chair, but he gets caught in a powerbomb by Garza. Hector gets a very early two count out of this, and then keeps control by hitting a moonsault bodyblock for another close pinfall attempt. He attempts another, but this time Chetti sees it coming and side steps it. As soon as Garza hits the mat, Chetti pounces and locks on a Boston Crab. Garza gets to the ropes in reasonably quick time though to break the hold.

Chetti then whips Garza into the ropes, but he gets backbodydropped after the two men trade reversals. Garza then enjoys a nice period of pressure. He gets close two counts with a backflip moonsault, a spinning backbreaker, and a flying cross bodypress. For the second time in the match though, Chetti sees the next move coming once Garza attempts another flying cross bodypress.

At this point we hear that The Headhunter's have accepted the challenge for tonight.

What follows is a poor segment for both men, as neither man is able to execute his offence effectively. Garza blows a top rope frankensteiner, leaving Chetti still on the top turnbuckle, and Chetti misses a flying clothesline to the outside, causing him to go crashing into the guardrail. The match then considerably slows down, as Chetti goes to work on the leg of Garza. The champion goes for another Boston Crab on several occasions, but Hector is always too close to the ropes.

Chetti continues stomping and working over the legs, until Garza suddenly rallies out of nowhere. He nails the champ with right hands before dropkicking him to the mat. An enzirguiri sends him down again and Garza goes up top. Going for a top rope legdrop, Garza is unsuccessful, completely missing the target. Chetti jumps up to his feet right away, and hits the double springboard moonsault to retain the title.

Chris Chetti defeated Hector Garza in 9-10 (**.5)

Chris Chetti retained the WWF Cruiserweight Title

Ross - A good first title defence for Chris Chetti, but he won't be defending the title at In Your House. Instead, he's gonna be teaming up with European Champion Adam Bomb to face the team of Owen Hart and Marc Mero. And this Thursday night on Thunder, Adam Bomb is gonna defend that title against one of the men he'll be facing on May 17th, Marc Mero. Should be a great match. These two have met before, and Mero owns two victories over Bomb. The *Intercontinental* Title will be on the line at In Your House 3 though, as Chris Benoit defends against The Rock. The Rock will be in action next as well, as he faces Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

The Rock vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley

This is these two men's first meeting in the WWF, and it looks to be a great match. After the two men lock up, Hunter nails Maivia with a clothesline, then following that up with a side suplex. He goes for a powerslam, but Rocky manages to avert it, and then rolls Hunter over with a sunset flip for the first pinfall attempt of the match. Pulling Helmsley up, Maivia goes to send him into the turnbuckle, but Hunter reverses and sends Maivia in. Maivia moves out of the way though when Hunter charges in, and then knocks Hunter to the mat with a clothesline. Rocky hits HHH with a few chops before Helmsley takes the advantage with another clothesline. Jesse Jammes strolls down to ringside as Helmsley executes a vertical suplex on The Rock. Helmsley then sends Rock into the ropes, knees him in the chest and then hits the pedigree! Hunter covers but Jammes breaks the pin at two for the quick dq.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated The Rock by dq in 1-45 (*)

Jesse Jammes and The Rock pound on Helmsley until the Intercontinental champion Chris Benoit runs to ringside and takes out the Rock! Jammes makes a quick exit whilst Benoit clotheslines Maivia over the top rope. Benoit turns around to face Helmsley but gets nailed in the gut and then pedigreed for his help. The DX theme kicks in and Helmsley poses to the crowd as we go to commercials.

<-commercials->

Ross - We're running dangerously out of time folks, so we're gonna go straight to ringside for our tag team main event!

The RoadWarriors vs The Headhunters

Headhunter #2 starts out with Animal, and the size of the Hunters plays a factor as they dominate to start. A belly to belly suplex gives a close two count for the Hunters as they keep control of the match. Hawk turns the tide when he ducks a double clotheslien from both Headhunters, turns, and then knocks them both down with a double clothesline of his own. Hawk tags in Animal who unloads on Headhunter #1 before clotheslining him over the top rope. Animal follows #1 to the outside and sends him straight into the guardrail. All four men then get involved around the ring area, and the referee begins his ten count. Animal managse to beat the count though, as Hawk piledrives Headhunter #1 on the concrete. The RoadWarriors win on count-out!

The RoadWarriors defeated The Headhunters by countout in 2-32 (-.5*)

Ross - So long everybody, see you on Thunder!